Cavs near No. 4 seed

4/14/2008

CLEVELAND - Daniel Gibson made a 3-pointer and three straight free throws early in the fourth quarter to give Cleveland some cushion while LeBron James rested, and the Cavaliers moved closer to the East's No. 4 seed with an 84-76 win over the Miami Heat last night.

Delonte West scored 18 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 and 14 rebounds and James finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Cavaliers, who didn't play well again but had enough to hold off the pathetic Heat.

Cleveland only led by two after three quarters and didn't pull comfortably ahead until there was less than five minutes to go. The Cavs swept the season series from Miami for the first time since 1989-90.

"Sometimes you've got to grind them out," Gibson said. "Sometimes the ugly ones are the best ones. We got the win."

Cleveland, which is only 13-12 since a major trade in February, needs to win one of its final two games - at Philadelphia tonight or home against Detroit on Wednesday - to secure the fourth seed and home-court advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs against Washington, the No. 5 seed.

Ricky Davis scored 17 points and Daequan Cook and Earl Barron had 13 apiece for Miami.

LAKERS 106, SPURS 85

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles took sole possession of the Western Conference lead as Kobe Bryant had 20 points before sitting out the fourth quarter. The Lakers clinched their first Pacific Division title in four years. Lamar Odom added 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Tony Parker had 20 points for San Antonio.

Magic 104, Bulls 84

CHICAGO - Hedo Turkoglu scored 24 points as Orlando reached the 50-win mark for the first time in 12 years. Andres Nocioni led Chicago with 22 points.

Nuggets 111, Rockets 94

DENVER - Allen Iverson scored 33 points and J.R. Smith had 23 as Denver moved closer to a playoff spot.

SuperSonics 99, Mavericks 95

SEATTLE - Earl Watson had 21 oints and Kevin Durant 19 as Seattle

rallied from a six-point deficit in the final three minutes.